A Journey to 100 Followers — What I Have Learned

Making connections, reading content, writing and learning

I have very recently joined Medium and as I write this I have zero followers. Yes, you read that correctly. You may be reading this at the beginning of your Medium journey. In the short time I have been using Medium I have read a number of posts. Posts that describe the importance of 100 followers and posts that are related to topics that interest me.

It is clear, a significant reason for striving towards 100 followers is this is the magic point where you can join the Medium programme and monetise your content. However, for me 100 followers means 100 connections. It means 100 readers who I can share content with, who I can share my thoughts, writing and ideas with. After all, no one wants to write content for it to never be read.

Initially, I felt uneasy writing a post of this nature. Self-promotion gives me that queasy feel in my stomach. It somehow doesn’t sit comfortably with me. However, at the same time, I want my work to be read. It is for this reason I am writing this post.

This is an introduction to me as a writer and how I plan to reach 100 followers. However, this is with the caveat that these followers are people that are engaged with my content, they genuinely find it interesting, helpful, useful and passionate. I do not follow people whose content isn’t of interest and I hope people do not follow me without having an interest in what I write. I would much prefer 10 engaged followers as opposed to 100 followers who have no interest in my content. If this sounds like you too then I hope you find this post useful.

A good starting point appears to be reading posts by others who write content you are interested in. For me, I am interested in coaching skills, self-awareness, listening skills, questioning, self-improvement and other topics of this nature. I read this content for three reasons.

• The main reason is these topics interest me and I want to learn as much about them as I can from a variety of perspectives. I am a coaching apprentice. I am part way through a level 5 qualification. Coaching is an area that I am extremely passionate about. I am motivated to help others and coaching feels like a profession where I can truly do this. By reading the work of others I can develop myself and become a great coach.

To help others you must first work on yourself.

• Secondly, reading the work of others is a great way to develop your writing style and to think of content to write about yourself. If you have ever written a blog or articles I am sure you will appreciate writers’ block and needing inspiration. Medium is full of useful content written by highly knowledgeable people. I have always found reading the work of others improves my writing skills and gives me inspiration for my own content.
• The third reason and perhaps the main point of this post is to grow my network of followers. You have probably come across follow for follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram — Medium also has similar opportunities. Although follow for follow can no doubt get you to the magic 100 it will not necessarily improve engagement. If you want your posts to be read then engaged followers is a must.

One thing I have quickly learned from reading Medium posts is quality followers are more important than number of followers.

Of course, I do not simply read the posts, I comment and clap too. You may not know but you can clap a post 50 times! It takes a few seconds and hopefully makes the writer feel good too. I comment with a paragraph that shows I have read the post. I feel this is important to show my appreciation for the post and to engage with the author. A well thought out comment provides the author with an opportunity to respond.

Another important factor in building your network of engaged readers is consistent and unique content. Whether you write once a week, twice a week or more, consistency appears to be the key. I plan to write about my personal journey as a coaching apprentice, sharing what I learn as I learn it. As a reader I find personal accounts more relatable. I plan to write content that others can relate to.

In addition to the above, it is important to write about topics you are passionate about. Readers need to be gripped by what you write to stay engaged. If you are not passionate about the topic this may come across in your style of writing and you may quickly lose interest in writing regular content. Even if you do not lose interest you may find it more challenging to write regularly about content that does not interest you. Coaching inspires me, it ignites me, it has increased my self-awareness and I feel I have already grown in a short space of time. I constantly read about coaching. I am gathering a small library of books using Kindle (and they don’t collect virtual dust) and reading content online too. I am a member of MindTools, a platform that shares a lot of coaching related content. I am confident that I can write about coaching related content indefinitely

Finally, I plan to enjoy Medium both as a reader and a writer. Yes, I want a healthy number of engaged followers however, this isn’t my sole purpose for joining Medium. When I joined Medium I didn’t even realise followers where part of the platform. As a reader I love to explore content and learn. I feel empowered and motivated the more I learn. In addition, I enjoy connecting with authors of content. Already I have read inspirational content. As a writer, I want to produce content that inspires others, supports them with their journey and provide another lens. My content will focus on coaching skills, benefits of coaching, self-awareness, self-development and other related topics.

I want to finish this post with a polite request. If you have found this post useful give it a clap or even 50! Secondly, if my content sounds of interest please follow me and leave a comment too. I will in turn read a post or two or more of your content and if it is of interest I will follow, comment and like too. Medium is a community and I am excited to be a part of it.

You can follow my journey at

• coachingapprentice.com
• facebook.com/coachingapprentice
• instagram.com/coachingapprentice

Join me in writing for Medium — it’s free. If you use my affiliate link you can get unlimited reads (it won’t cost you extra, but I’ll get a portion of the fee).